The Sir Robert Bond Papers
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Churchill Falls and Muskrat Falls - Background
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08 August 2014
The Stark Numbers #nlpoli
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Anyone who wants to get insight into the political landscape in Newfoundland and Labrador need look no further than the Abacus poll commiss...
07 August 2014
Cost Driver #nlpoli
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Companies large and small in the province are under considerable stress as a result of Nalcor’s Muskrat Falls project. The cause? This CB...
06 August 2014
August is polling month #nlpoli
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The provincial government headquarters offices in St. John’s will be closed on Wednesday for the annual St. John’s regatta. There won’t be...
05 August 2014
Paging Dr. Freud #nlpoli
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Reluctant Premier Tom Marshall said some interesting things in what appears to be his retirement interview with the Western Star . Like ru...
04 August 2014
The 2018-2019 Offshore Review #nlpoli
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In 2003, the new Conservative administration set as its first task to renegotiate the Atlantic Accord. They hadn’t campaigned on that iss...
01 August 2014
Another tired dog and sway-backed pony show #nlpoli
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Temporary premier Tom Marshall and natural resources minister Derrick Dalley released a 40-odd page document on Thursday. It’s was suppose...
31 July 2014
STI rates in Newfoundland and Labrador #nlpoli
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Saskatoon Health Region released a report on July 18 on the rates of sexually transmitted infections in the city in 2013. A CBC report ...
30 July 2014
Mullet Policy #nlpoli
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Government is like a lot of things in life: it’s about finding solutions to problems. Okay. If that upsets your cynical sensibilities, ...
29 July 2014
The Jewel in the Crown #nlpoli
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If you are a Newfoundland politics junkie who hasn’t been reading Uncle Gnarley , then you’ve been missing out. You can fix that by readi...
28 July 2014
Horse farts #nlpoli
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If you do nothing else in the next few days, take the time to read the decision issued Friday ( via CBC ) by a Quebec superior court judge ...
25 July 2014
2019 should be interesting #nlpoli
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The cheque’s been cash. There’s no more cash flowing. But the deal is not quite done, yet.
24 July 2014
Crime Severity Indices, St. John’s #nlpoli
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This week, Statistics Canada released their latest compilation of crime statistics based on reports by police. The figures in the release ...
23 July 2014
Slates #nlpoli
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In any delegated political convention, you need to elect delegates in each of the districts who will vote for your candidate at the leadersh...
22 July 2014
Uncommon Stupidity #nlpoli
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There are times when a politician’s comments are so stunned they just take your breath away. The first few days of the Damn-fool Fishery ...
21 July 2014
Traitors Everywhere #nlpoli
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Tony Collins loves Muskrat Falls. He loves it so much that every now and again he takes the valuable space from his column in the weekend ...
18 July 2014
The Blackbird Song
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It’s summer. We don't need to talk politics all the time. Here’s a song from the past that some people will remember. It only did w...
17 July 2014
La Romaine: on or off? #nlpoli
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On Monday, Quebec premier Philippe Couillard left the impression that the third and fourth dams on the La Romaine river were in doubt. C...
16 July 2014
Shapes and sizes #nlpoli
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The Duke of Connaught, Governor General of Canada and uncle of King George, visited St. John’s in the middle of July, 1914. During his vis...
15 July 2014
The Conservative race picks up speed #nlpoli
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One of the great things about political campaigns is that the players have a chance to surprise observers. We saw that in the Liberal leader...
14 July 2014
Gone, baby, gone #nlpoli
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In September 2008 , four cabinet ministers went to Harbour Grace to announce that the provincial government was giving the company $8.0 mil...
11 July 2014
Issues and Answers – on line #nlpoli
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After a couple of false starts over the past year, it looks like NTV has started posting episodes of Issues and Answers online. That’s ...
10 July 2014
The Desolation of Smog #nlpoli
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The Telegram’s Peter Jackson used the most recent JM paper on consumer electricity prices and Muskrat Falls as part of his Wednesday column...
09 July 2014
Convergence #nlpoli
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A couple of years ago, Liberal leader Dwight Ball said the Liberals would use earnings from Muskrat Falls to lower electricity prices for c...
08 July 2014
Electricity prices when Muskrat comes on line #nlpoli
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Cost over-runs on Muskrat Falls as well as other costs not included in previous calculations by Nalcor will likely increase current electric...
07 July 2014
The World According to Kent #nlpoli
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If you are one of the political savants who thinks that dominating Twitter makes for a modern, inspired, and successful political leadership...
04 July 2014
Friday Bits #nlpoli
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To understand the real Steve Kent and not the manufactured front he presents to the world these days, take a look at this 2007 post by Simon...
03 July 2014
Political Fashionistas #nlpoli
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Before the year is out, we will have yet another strategy from the provincial government. We were supposed to have this one on July 1, ho...
Avoiding a cabinet shuffle #nlpoli
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By the end of the week, Premier Tom Marshall will be short at least two cabinet ministers. Paul Davis quit as health minister on Wednesda...
02 July 2014
The Mulligan Race begins #nlpoli
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By the end of the week, the provincial Conservatives will have the leadership race they deliberately avoided the last time out. That’s the ...
01 July 2014
Commemoration Day, 2014 #nlpoli
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Tread softly here! Go reverently and slow! Let your soul go down upon its knees And with bowed head, and heart abased strive har...
30 June 2014
Paying everyone but ourselves #nlpoli
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Nalcor boss Ed Martin told everyone in the province last week that his pet project has increased in price by almost another billion dollars ...
27 June 2014
Muskrat Falls costs break $8.0 billion #nlpoli
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$6.99 billion is the new cost estimate for the Muskrat Falls dam and the link to the island. With that much money and with such a record ...
26 June 2014
The ATIPPA Review Round-Up #nlpoli
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Tuesday’s video is available at parcnl.ca. Your humble e-scribbler is Number 2 on June 25. At the front end of the Number 1 video is ...
25 June 2014
parcnl.ca #nlpoli
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If you want your SRBP fix this Wednesday morning check out the Privacy and Access Review Committee hearings at 11:00 AM. They are streamin...
24 June 2014
Summer Political Reading List #nlpoli
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If you are looking for some political reading over the summer, here are a few books worth checking out. Tragedy in the Commons by Alison ...
23 June 2014
Grassroots #nlpoli
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You’ll likely hear a lot of talk from Conservatives over the next few weeks about their “grassroots.” Trevor Taylor, for one mentioned th...
21 June 2014
Welcome Back, Cochrane #nlpoli
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If you are needing a political fix this weekend you can get two of the better variety online. David Cochrane is back from an extended abse...
20 June 2014
Nothing was further from the truth #nlpoli
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A decade ago, the offshore regulatory board reduced its estimate of the recoverable reserves in the Terra Nova field from 405 million barre...
19 June 2014
Taking nothing out #nlpoli
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Sometimes a comment is so profoundly revealing you just can’t let it slide by. This one came from Milly Brown, the Premier’s communication...
18 June 2014
Wednesday Quickies #nlpoli
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As your humble e-scribbler spent time on Tuesday finishing off a presentation to the ATIPPA inquiry next week (11 AM, 25 June), here are a...
17 June 2014
Premier Mulligan #nlpoli
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The news on Monday was not Frank Coleman’s announcement. The news was in the reaction of provincial Conservatives to word that Coleman wou...
16 June 2014
Understanding election polls #nlpoli
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If you want to get a decent discussion of the Ontario election results and the way polling research tracked the campaign, take a look at a p...
13 June 2014
Criticism #nlpoli
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Take a gander at this letter to the editor of Overcast by someone using the name Samuel Wilkes. It’s about a problem in the arts communit...
12 June 2014
Sometimes a cigar … #nlpoli
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“Fundamentally, the [Conservative Party leadership] process works,” former Conservative cabinet minister Shawn Skinner said on CBC’s On Poi...
11 June 2014
Pollyanna Peek-a-Boo and the Economic Unboom #nlpoli
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Premier Peek-a-Boo took time out of his long, slow wander to the Premier’s Office this week to do an interview with the Grand Falls-Windsor ...
10 June 2014
“Out-sourcing” social programs and policy #nlpoli
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The incredible story from Ireland about the remains of 800 babies and children found in a discarded septic tank caused your humble e-scribbl...
09 June 2014
Air Canada to London: back again #nlpoli
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How times change. Last week, industry minister Susan Sullivan attended an announcement by Air Canada that they would be bringing back year...
06 June 2014
A farewell to Tom Marshall #nlpoli
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Tom Marshall spent his last few hours ever as a member of the House of Assembly on Thursday, as the spring session drew to a close. Tom’s ...
05 June 2014
There’s good news and there’s bad news #nlpoli
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Corporate Research Associates and the provincial Conservatives played up the change in government satisfaction in the release of CRA’s quart...
04 June 2014
And then things went horribly wronger… #nlpoli
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John Crosbie, the elder statesmen of Conservatives in the province took a shot at Danny Williams for his continued interference in the inte...
03 June 2014
John, Danny, and voter apathy #nlpoli
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Every now and again, someone will talk about voter apathy. Last week, Steve Kent was circulating the link to an article that claimed t...
02 June 2014
No sense of irony at all #nlpoli
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The smart guy they could have had – but frigged over twice - told Canadian Press : “The understanding of the [provincial political] c...
30 May 2014
Playing with the Ferryman #nlpoli
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The ferry service between Newfoundland and Cape Breton is economically important to the province as a whole, but it’s especially sensitive f...
29 May 2014
Grimes on Frank, Tom, and the Kami project #nlpoli
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Roger Grimes’ is through his heart surgery and nice vacation and that has left him with a new vigour. He called VOCM’s BackTalk on Tuesday...
28 May 2014
Coleman, Marshall, and the Broken Chain of Accountability #nlpoli
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The Telegram’s James McLeod started a story that appeared on 26 May with the following sentence: Premier-designate Frank Coleman says ...
27 May 2014
Contrasting Speeches #nlpoli
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Liberal leader Dwight Ball and Conservative leader-designate Frank Coleman delivered speeches in St. John’s last week and you couldn’t have ...
26 May 2014
McGrath comments “preposterous”: surety association #nlpoli
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From the industry association representing companies that provide sureties and other bonds, released May 26, 2014: News Release For...
The Friday Night Massacre #nlpoli
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Frank Coleman recorded CBC’s On Point with Peter Cowan on Thursday or Friday afternoon. During the show, Coleman acknowledged that he ha...
23 May 2014
Tom Marshall’s puppet government #nlpoli
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Whatever is going on in the Premier’s Office these days, it isn’t an orderly and organized transition from one premier to another. That’s ...
Politics and the Fishery #nlpoli
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For those who missed it, here’s the podcast from the Fisheries Broadcast for May 22, complete with your humble e-scribbler talking about po...
Another inside deal #nlpoli
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If you want to get a sense of how the New Democratic Party convention actually ran last weekend, take a few minutes and listen to Tony Adey’...
22 May 2014
Nalcor and Conflict of Interest #nlpoli
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Is anyone else having trouble trying to figure out what all the fuss is about Cathy Bennett, Nalcor, and conflict of interest? Seriously. ...
21 May 2014
Kremlinology 47: If only saying it made it so #nlpoli
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According to New Democratic Party leader Lorraine Michael, the party convention this past weekend was “a room of people who are saying, '...
20 May 2014
Always read the large print #nlpoli
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The Conference Board of Canada released a report last week that assessed economic performance in each of the provinces in Canada. “The res...
19 May 2014
The left-wing conservatives #nlpoli
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In 2010, the provincial Conservatives had a chance to reinvigorate their party in time for the 2011 general election. They deliberately st...
16 May 2014
The Fruits of a Poisonous Shrub #nlpoli
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Senator Fabian Manning says that the 2008 Anything but Conservative campaign is stilling hurting the province in dealing with the federal go...
15 May 2014
The Bicycle Roads to Nowhere #nlpoli
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Frecker Drive is a well-designed residential street in the west end of St. John’s. The street is wide: you can park cars on either side an...
14 May 2014
Getting On Point back from No Point #nlpoli
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For years, the only public affairs show on television or radio in Newfoundland and Labrador was Issues and Answers. NTV’s Sunday morning st...
13 May 2014
Promises, promises… 2003 contracts and tendering edition #nlpoli
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In light of the controversy about Humber Valley Paving, here are some of the Conservative promises made in 2003 about contracts and public t...
12 May 2014
A beautiful waste
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Exploring the world underneath New York City, via The Atlantic : -srbp-
The market is closed, Ken. #nlpoli
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Part of the problem the folks at Nalcor have had in trying to build support for on Muskrat Falls is that they never explain things completel...
09 May 2014
Keep the momentum going #nlpoli
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Frank Coleman’s idea for change in Newfoundland and Labrador is to keep everything the way it is. As CBC reported in March, “Coleman said...
Weak Questions get Weak Answers #nlpoli
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Nalcor’s effort to have local taxpayers subsidize electricity exports to Massachusetts came up in the House of Assembly on Thursday. Wel...
08 May 2014
And no birds sang #nlpoli
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Farley Mowat passed away on May 7, 2014, aged 92. The prolific Canadian writer and environmentalist was just shy of his 93rd birthday on ...
Nalcor promising Boston cheap electricity courtesy of NL taxpayers #nlpoli
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Muskrat Falls is over budget, big time. The latest estimate is $7.4 billion and climbing on a project that was forecast at $5.0 billion jus...
07 May 2014
Power and Influence #nlpoli
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If nothing else, the controversy over the sweet heart deal the provincial Conservatives cut with Frank Coleman’s son at Humber Valley Paving...
06 May 2014
HVP controversy deepens #nlpoli
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[In a hole with a jack-hammer update at bottom] The controversy around Humber Valley Paving got worse for the provincial Conservatives on...
05 May 2014
The House comes back… what’s on the menu? #nlpoli
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Nice to be wrong update: The Liberals started Question Period on Monday hammering the Conservatives over the Humber Valley Paving controve...
02 May 2014
Cabinet Shuffle Bored #nlpoli
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The provincial Conservative Party is in the midst of such an intense revival of interest only about a dozen people turned out on Wednesday n...
01 May 2014
Muskrat costs at $7.4 billion … and climbing #nlpoli
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After 13 days, Nalcor boss Ed martin finally responded to a simple request from the Telegram’s James McLeod for an explanation of what impa...
30 April 2014
White Knight #nlpoli
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The Alberta Conservatives are looking for a new leader. The old one quit last month amid a caucus revolt and a loss of popularity in polls. ...
29 April 2014
Decisive Leadership in Action #nlpoli
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How hard can it be for someone to figure out when they want to start a job? Seriously. A job you want, mind you, not one you have been f...
28 April 2014
Kremlinology 46: Premier Peek-a-Boo and the Dog Whistle #nlpoli
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In a scrum with reporters after a public meeting about the Corner Brook hospital last Thursday, Frank Coleman showed he has picked up the t...
25 April 2014
Cognitive Dissonance #nlpoli
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People like things in life to fit together. When things don’t fit together, people get upset. They get fidgety. They try to make things ...
Prepared Statements and Unprepared Politicians #nlpoli
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CBC Radio’s St. John’s Morning Show is so off-put by politicians who issue prepared statements that they’ve found a former journalist turned...
24 April 2014
Plan 9 from Columbus Drive #nlpoli
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Some enterprising political science graduate student will be able to write a brilliant doctoral dissertation a few years from now on the par...
23 April 2014
Strategically Unwise and other political own-goals #nlpoli
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Depending on which interview you listened to on Tuesday, Tom Marshall would be hanging around as Premier until the end of the summer. At ...
22 April 2014
Four days late and a few dollars short #nlpoli
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Premier-in-waiting Frank Coleman did speak to the Telegram on Monday evening about the controversy that has been raging all weekend over hi...
Crazy Train Wreck #nlpoli
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Premier-in-waiting Frank Coleman was off in Toronto on Monday – reputedly undergoing intensive media training - and so he wasn’t willing to...
21 April 2014
Budget basics: Dealing with the Debt #nlpoli
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Public sector pensions in Newfoundland and Labrador are underfunded. There’s not enough money in the fund account to cover all the likely m...
19 April 2014
Legitimacy and Credibility #nlpoli
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In the crude, modern way of putting things, shit got real for Premier-in-waiting Frank Coleman on Friday. The Telegram’s James McLeod tw...
18 April 2014
The Further Adventures of Premier Peek-a-boo #nlpoli
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Frank Coleman didn’t speak to reporters about the Conservative Party by-election loss in Virginia Waters. Someone wrote up a prepared stat...
The Fix Was In #nlpoli
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Bill Barry, in the Western Star , on the Conservative leadership show he quit on Thursday: “I just chose to recognize that the leader h...
Experience still counts #nlpoli
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Now that Frank Coleman is the de facto leader of the provincial Conservative party, there’s no reason why Coleman can’t be in the Premier’s...
17 April 2014
Pearl Necklace #nlpoli
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Mount Pearl is alive with rumours this week that Steve Kent is trying to cross the floor (back) to the Liberals. Kent’s open dispute with ...
16 April 2014
How not to bolster public confidence: the umpteenth Nalcor edition #nlpoli
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The folks at Nalcor held a media briefing at 11:00 AM on Tuesday. it was supposed to be about the release of the independent engineer’s rev...
15 April 2014
The Virginia Waters Come-Back Myth #nlpoli
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Danny Williams said it. Tom Marshall said it. In the Virginia Waters by-election the Conservatives were trailing by 15 percentage points...
14 April 2014
Budget Basics: Unfunded Pension and Benefits Liabilities #nlpoli
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While the provincial budget for 2014 was all about spending government money, the budget speech did raise one issue that the provincial gov...
11 April 2014
Premier Peek-a-boo #nlpoli
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Pretty well every Conservative who is anyone in the province turned up on Wednesday night at Danny Breen’s by-election headquarters. Every...
10 April 2014
Ripples #nlpoli
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The provincial Conservatives lost a crucial by-election in Virginia Waters on Wednesday, but not for lack of effort. The could not possible...
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